Page 27 of Warmongers and Wands
“A GPS tracker,” Adrienne suggested. “Some people put them on their dogs.”
Great. Bronwyn and the pet Beagle, both with tracking collars. I felt so loved.
“How did you all finally find me?” I asked them. “Did the werewolves send you a message? Did someone see my smashed truck from the road?”
Cassie’s eyebrows went up. “Well, let’s see…you didn’t show up for family dinner tonight and weren’t answering your phone. None of us had heard from you in a few days, so we got worried. Ophelia did a divination that showed you were hurt and trapped somewhere, so we gotreallyworried. She and I managed to do a tracking spell with Lucien’s help, and it brought us here.” She turned to smile at Hadur. “Sorry for the entrance. We weren’t sure what was going on or what we were going to find in here.”
“Is Lucien with you?” I seldom saw Cassie without the demon any more.
“No, Ophelia got something in her divination that led her to believe him coming along would be a bad idea, so I had to convince him to stay behind with Aaron.”
“I’ll bet that went well,” I drawled.
“Let’s just say that there’s probably going to be a lot of sex on the agenda tonight.”
“So why is this Hadur living in the middle of the woods—on the side of a mountain owned by the werewolf pack inside the town wards?” Glenda asked.
“With a raccoon!” Adrienne squealed, kneeling down to better see Diebin. “Oh, look at you, you cutie, you! I know you! You’re the little guy who was stealing Joe Swanson’s chickens, aren’t you? Come here so I can give you a hug.”
Diebin hesitated, then dashed forward into Adrienne’s arms. She stood, cuddling the raccoon, who seemed absolutely enchanted by her. That’s the way it always was with Adrienne. And this was far more adorable than her cuddling spiders or slugs.
“Hadur is a demon,” I told my sisters. “Someone summoned him two hundred years ago and never showed up to complete the deal. He’s been trapped here in a summoning circle since then.”
“And he made a deal with our new friend here to bring him food and supplies from outside the circle.” Adrienne added, scratching Diebin behind the ears. “Smart boy. Very smart boy.”
I wasn’t sure if she meant Hadur or Diebin.
“A demon.” Cassie took a step back from Hadur. “What sort of demon?”
“War,” he replied. “I know your bonded demon, Lucien. And no, we do not get along. I’m sure that’s why your sister’s spell advised he not come.”
“But you can’t leave the cabin?” Cassie asked.
“I can leave the cabin, but not the confines of the summoning circle.”
“It’s just under an acre,” I told her.
She frowned. “That’s big. I mean, I don’t know much of anything about summoning demons, but from what I do know, the circles tend to be no bigger than a twelve-foot diameter, not nearly an acre in size.”
“So…what does that mean?” I asked.
Cassie shook her head. “I’m not sure. Maybe the summoner meant for him to be here long term, or possibly forever? That’s why the size is bigger than normal?”
“Right,” I scoffed. “How nice of her. ‘I’m going to confine a demon for all of eternity in a remote area of a mountain, but I’m a nice witch so I’ll make sure he has a bit of room to stretch his legs.’”
“Can we discuss this later?” Ophelia asked. “Maybe after we get you somewhere we can X-ray that leg and get a cast on it?”
“I can’t just walk out of here, in case you didn’t notice,” I told her. “I’m assuming you guys hiked in. And I’m also assuming nobody mastered teleportation spells in the last four days.”
Ophelia scowled. “Shit.”
Everyone turned to look at Cassie. We always turned to look at Cassie. She’d taken care of us when Mom hit the road. She was the one who hosted Sunday family dinners. She was the strongest among us, the one who now “ran” the town in spite of our elected mayor and sheriff.
“I can’t teleport, even with Lucien’s help,” Cassie said. “Maybe a helicopter?”
“And where would someone land a helicopter?” Sylvie spoke up. She’d been mostly silent until now, checking out the books over in the corner and also checking out Hadur.
“People do rescues for climbers and boaters with helicopters and those basket things that they lower down,” Babylon chimed in. “Who do we call for that? If we had a cell signal here, I’d Google it.”
